


the only way out

by falloutmars



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, F/M, Fix-It, im basically guessing what happens to jughead, kind of a missing moment in 4x14, small amount of fluff, spoiler alert: he is not dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22929934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falloutmars/pseuds/falloutmars
Summary: To everyone else, Jughead is dead, but Betty knows the truth. And they'll get through it together.(a 4x14 fic)
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	the only way out

**Author's Note:**

> hi! how are you all doing after the most recent episode? i hope not too bad. well, we all know jughead isn't dead, right? of course he isn't. anyway, i wrote this little drabble on a (bad) theory for what could be going on i had. read on, everyone - i hope you enjoy it! (enjoy is definitely the wrong word but... yeah)
> 
> (warnings for talks of death/murder but nothing more than canon)

“Jug? Jug, is that you?”

Betty answers the phone in a frenzy, hoping the unknown number is her boyfriend. It’s stupid, really, to say his name like that when everyone thinks he’s dead. Anyone could’ve been on the end of that phone. But luckily it is the person she hoped for. 

“Hey, Betty.” He sounds tired, deflated, but who wouldn’t after having to fake their own death? 

She sighs a breath of relief, glad it’s him who answered. “Jug, I’m so happy to hear your voice.” 

She can almost hear his smile. “Me too.” He pauses before hesitantly asking, “How did it go with Archie and Veronica?” 

Truthfully, it had gone as well as she could’ve hoped. With Charles’ advice, she’d played up the sad, grieving girlfriend act. And they bought it because it’s not just an act. She _is_ sad and scared and worried about him but at least she knows he’s alive. Which is more than she can say for her two best friends. 

Her and Jughead’s plan had gone as good as can be. He distracted Bret; she got Donna alone. Charles had forewarned them that Donna might try and use a tangerine spell on her - something he found out with one of his many questionable sources - and if not, or perhaps as well as, his sources believe she has connections to drugs - a way she could get Betty to momentarily blackout while their own plan is put into action.

But Betty and Jughead’s plan was better than Bret and Donna’s. Of course, Jughead fought Bret, not allowing him to kill him like he’d wanted. Donna, none the wiser, tried both predicted outcomes on Betty. She played along, getting Donna out of the woods and a ‘dead’ Jughead in front of her, holding the supposed murder weapon and covered in blood. 

That’s when Archie and Veronica entered. Exactly on cue. Except, they didn’t know about the cue. It was just perfect timing. What they would’ve seen was Betty standing over Jughead’s lifeless body, holding a bloody rock. On the face of things, it looked like Betty had killed Jughead. Of course, that wasn’t reality. Betty wasn’t guilty; Jughead wasn’t dead. It was up to her to convince her friends that he really was dead, but at the same time, make sure they don’t think she did it. 

She had to get her friends on side. She had to convince them that Bret and Donna’s plan had happened. That they’d killed Jughead and framed Betty for his murder. It was cruel, it was difficult and she felt downright awful doing it but it was the only way forward. Convincing them that the fourth person in their group had been brutally murdered by his classmates and his girlfriend framed for it seemed to be the only way out of the mess that was Stonewall Prep. 

After the ‘murder’, she’d called Charles in front of her friends, like they’d discussed. While he was on his way, they burnt their clothes and Jughead’s beanie. Betty knew that’d make her friends _really_ believe that he was dead, so he’d reluctantly agreed for her to do so. Then Charles turned up, told the three of them to get out of there, to go home. And they listened. Archie drove them home and in the meantime, to his and Veronica’s knowledge, Charles was sorting the body for them. In reality, he was helping Jughead to a safe place, away from Stonewall and for the time being, away from Riverdale. 

But before Betty could have any contact with him, she had to deal with Archie and Veronica. 

And she did. With Charles’ help, she’d done it and she’d done it well. As expected, they questioned her, questioned Bret and Donna’s motive, questioned whether calling Charles was the right thing to do, but ultimately, they believed he was dead. 

To continue on with their plan, they had to play along with the Stonies game. Once her friends were on board, Betty had sorted a few things with them and went back to the FBI offices. Charles wasn’t there but it’s the only place in town that she can be alone without someone on her case. 

That’s when Jughead calls. 

She tells him everything about what happened with Archie and Veronica. “I feel so bad, Jug,” she sighs.

“Betty, hey,” he says softly. “We’ve done what we had to. And I’m sorry you and our friends are caught up in this mess.” “I just hope our plan works.” She lets out an empty laugh. “Where are you, anyway?”

It’s Jughead’s turn to sigh. “Charles said not to tell anyone. I’m sorry. I’m okay, though, please don’t worry.”

Tears begin building up in her eyes, and she wishes more than anything that this nightmare was over. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” he tells her, voice croaky and cracked by the shitty phone line. “It’s all going to be okay, I promise.” His words mirror his own from just the previous day in his dorm at Stonewall. 

“Okay,” she replies, hoping that the conviction in her voice is enough to persuade him that she believes him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Betty, I love you so much.”

She smiles. A real smile that only Jughead can extract from her. “We’ll get through this, okay?”

“Okay.”

_~fin_

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you all had some kind of enjoyment while reading this short piece. as always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. please let me know if any of you have any theories on this jughead thing (as long as they including him being alive)
> 
> just to let you know - i'm currently working on a longer fic (it's up to 22k so far) that i'm hoping to start uploading soon. it's much fluffier than canon so keep an eye out for that. but that's why this is so short and quite honestly kinda bad.
> 
> anyway, thank you for reading!!


End file.
